A Tudor money box (or Tudor money pot) is a glazed

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed Vitrification#Ceramics, nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids ...

container used in late Medieval

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

as a small, portable bank for collecting and saving money. The typical money box was a round, sealed, green-glazed pot with a vertical coin slot. These sturdy, small pots were commonly used by

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

theatres to collect ticket earnings. Money would be retrieved from the full money box by breaking it open and destroying the pot.

Description

The small

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

money box was typically spherical in shape. By the 16th century, the form included a tapering, bell-shaped, knobbed top. The container was completely sealed with a narrow coin slot on the side. The glazed, ceramic pots were produced in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and near the

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

borders. Individual pots were made by white-firing earthenware and then decorating each item with a coloured glaze, known as "Tudor Green". The distinctive colour was created by adding powdered copper to a clear, lead glaze. The glazed pot would range in colour from dark green to yellow-green, depending upon the colour of the clay and thickness of the glaze. Tudor money pot

History

Tudor money boxes were used as small, inexpensive collecting and savings banks in Britain from the 1300s to the 1600s. They were in service during the

era by

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and surrounding area theatres to collect ticket money from customers. When the money pot was full, it was destroyed to retrieve the coins. In 1988 and in 2010, the

Museum of London Archaeology MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) is an archaeology and built heritage practice and independent charitable company registered with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA). It provides a wide range of professional archaeological se ...

(MOLA) uncovered many Tudor money box fragments during excavation at the site of the

period

Rose Theatre The Rose was an Elizabethan playhouse, built by theatre entrepreneur Philip Henslowe in 1587. It was the fifth public playhouse to be built in London, after the Red Lion in Whitechapel (1567), The Theatre (1576) and the Curtain (1577), both i ...

in London. Original, unbroken money boxes are quite rare.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tudor money box Tudor England Ceramics of medieval England

Description

History

See also

References